T. Christian Miller is an
investigative reporter
Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years rese ...
, editor,
author
An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states:
"''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...
, and
war correspondent for
ProPublica
ProPublica (), legally Pro Publica, Inc., is a nonprofit organization based in New York City. In 2010, it became the first online news source to win a Pulitzer Prize, for a piece written by one of its journalists''The Guardian'', April 13, 2010P ...
. He has focused on how multinational corporations operate in foreign countries, documenting human rights and environmental abuses. Miller has covered four wars —
Kosovo
Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...
,
Colombia,
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
and the
West Bank
The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
, and
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...
. He also covered the
2000 presidential campaign. He is also known for his work in the field of
computer-assisted reporting Computer-assisted reporting describes the use of computers to gather and analyze the data necessary to write news stories.
The spread of computers, software and the Internet changed how reporters work. Reporters routinely collect information in dat ...
and was awarded a Knight Fellowship at
Stanford University in 2012 to study innovation in journalism. In 2016, Miller was awarded the
Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism with
Ken Armstrong of
The Marshall Project
The Marshall Project is a nonprofit, online journalism organization focusing on issues related to criminal justice in the United States. It was founded by former hedge fund manager Neil Barsky with former ''New York Times'' executive editor Bi ...
. In 2019, he served as a producer of the
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...
limited series
Unbelievable, which was based on the prize-winning article. In 2020, Miller shared the
Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting
This Pulitzer Prize has been awarded since 1942 for a distinguished example of reporting on national affairs in the United States. In its first six years (1942–1947), it was called the Pulitzer Prize for Telegraphic Reporting – National.
Li ...
with other reporters from ''ProPublica'' and ''
The Seattle Times
''The Seattle Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 and has been owned by the Blethen family since 1896. ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Washington ...
''. With
Megan Rose and
Robert Faturechi, Miller co-won the 2020 award for his reporting on
United States Seventh Fleet
The Seventh Fleet is a numbered fleet of the United States Navy. It is headquartered at U.S. Fleet Activities Yokosuka, in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is part of the United States Pacific Fleet. At present, it is the largest of ...
accidents.
Career and biography
Miller grew up in
Charleston, South Carolina. His mother, Linda Miller, was a member of the local school board who focused on integration issues. His father, Donald H. Miller, was a research biochemist at the
Medical University of South Carolina
The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) is a public medical school in South Carolina. It opened in 1824 in Charleston as a small private college aimed at training physicians and has since established hospitals and medical facilities ac ...
. Miller graduated from
Bishop England High School
Bishop England High School is a diocesan Roman Catholic four-year high school in Charleston, South Carolina, United States. It was located on Calhoun Street in downtown Charleston until it moved to a newly constructed 40-acre campus located on Dan ...
.
Miller began his career in journalism at the
University of California at Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant uni ...
. He majored in English and minored in French while becoming the University Editor of the ''
Daily Californian
''The Daily Californian'' (''Daily Cal'') is an independent, student-run newspaper that serves the University of California, Berkeley, campus and its surrounding community. It formerly published a print edition four days a week on Monday, Tuesd ...
'', an independent campus newspaper. After college, he worked for the ''St. Petersburg Times'', now the ''
Tampa Bay Times
The ''Tampa Bay Times'', previously named the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It has won fourteen Pulitzer Prizes since 1964, and in 2009, won two in a single ...
''.
In 1997, he went to work for the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
''. While at that paper, he covered local, national and international news, opening the newspaper's first bureau in
Bogota, Colombia. Miller was briefly held prisoner by the leftist Colombian guerrilla group known as the
FARC
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army ( es, link=no, Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de ColombiaEjército del Pueblo, FARC–EP or FARC) is a Marxist–Leninist guerrilla group involved in the continuing Colombian confl ...
, or Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, an episode later documented in
short animated news feature Two of his reporters were later held captive by a second Colombian leftist group, the
ELN, or Ejército de Liberación Nacional.
Miller's investigative reporting in Colombia uncovered that a contractor for an American oil company,
Occidental Petroleum, had helped to coordinate the bombing of civilians by the Colombian Air Force of a small town in northeastern Colombia which left 17 dead. His coverage of the Santo Domingo bombing led to the U.S. suspending military aid to the Colombian Air Force and to a judgement by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights condemning the Colombian government.
Miller became a national correspondent for the ''Los Angeles Times'' based in Washington, D.C. While there, Miller served as the only journalist in the U.S. dedicated exclusively to covering the
Iraqi reconstruction. Miller published a book on the subject, ''Blood Money: Wasted Billions, Lost Lives and Corporate Greed in Iraq.''
In 2008, Miller was one of the founding employees of
ProPublica
ProPublica (), legally Pro Publica, Inc., is a nonprofit organization based in New York City. In 2010, it became the first online news source to win a Pulitzer Prize, for a piece written by one of its journalists''The Guardian'', April 13, 2010P ...
, an independent, non-profit start-up dedicated to investigative reporting. While at
ProPublica
ProPublica (), legally Pro Publica, Inc., is a nonprofit organization based in New York City. In 2010, it became the first online news source to win a Pulitzer Prize, for a piece written by one of its journalists''The Guardian'', April 13, 2010P ...
, Miller has published investigative projects with various news organizations, including the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
'', ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'', ''
Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely ...
'', ''
Salon'',
National Public Radio
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
, ''
This American Life
''This American Life'' (''TAL'') is an American monthly hour-long radio program produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media and hosted by Ira Glass. It is broadcast on numerous public radio stations in the United States and internatio ...
'', ABC News ''
20/20'' and PBS' ''
Frontline
Front line refers to the forward-most forces on a battlefield.
Front line, front lines or variants may also refer to:
Books and publications
* ''Front Lines'' (novel), young adult historical novel by American author Michael Grant
* ''Frontlines ...
''.
Miller is a leading figure in innovation in journalism, especially in transparency, trust and data-driven journalism. He delivered the U.S. Army Creekmore Lecture in 2007, and has taught at the
University of Southern California
, mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it"
, religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist
, established =
, accreditation = WSCUC
, type = Private research university
, academic_affiliations =
, endowment = $8.1 ...
,
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
,
Stanford University, the
University of California at Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant uni ...
and the
College of Charleston
The College of Charleston (CofC or Charleston) is a public university in Charleston, South Carolina. Founded in 1770 and chartered in 1785, it is the oldest university in South Carolina, the 13th oldest institution of higher learning in the Unit ...
. He spent a year at Stanford University as a Knight Fellow, studying transparency and new models of journalism. Miller has served as treasurer and board member of
Investigative Reporters and Editors
Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. (IRE) is a nonprofit organization that focuses on improving the quality of journalism, in particular investigative journalism. Formed in 1975, it presents the IRE Awards and holds conferences and training ...
, or the IRE, the nation's largest organization of investigative journalists.
Honors and awards
Miller has won numerous local, national and international awards. In 1999, he won th
John B. Oakes Awardfor Environmental Journalism for his coverage of runaway growth in the Santa Monica Mountains. In 2004, he was awarded the
Livingston Award
The Livingston Awards at the University of Michigan are American journalism awards issued to media professionals under the age of 35 for local, national, and international reporting. They are the largest, all-media, general reporting prizes in Ame ...
for international reporting, one of the most competitive and prestigious reporting prizes in American journalism, for his coverage of children and war. In 2005, he won an
Overseas Press Club
The Overseas Press Club of America (OPC) was founded in 1939 in New York City by a group of foreign correspondents. The wire service reporter Carol Weld was a founding member, as was the war correspondent Peggy Hull. The club seeks to maintain ...
award. In 2009, he won an
Investigative Reporters and Editors
Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. (IRE) is a nonprofit organization that focuses on improving the quality of journalism, in particular investigative journalism. Formed in 1975, it presents the IRE Awards and holds conferences and training ...
award. In 2010, he won a
George Polk award
The George Polk Awards in Journalism are a series of American journalism awards presented annually by Long Island University in New York in the United States. A writer for Idea Lab, a group blog hosted on the website of PBS, described the awar ...
with
Daniel Zwerdling of National Public radio for his work covering traumatic brain injuries in the U.S. military. In that same year, he was also given the
Selden Ring Award
The Selden Ring Award for Investigative Reporting, given by the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California
, mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it"
, religious_affiliation = Nonsectar ...
for investigative reporting on private contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2015, Miller
Marcela Gaviria and colleagues from ProPublica and Frontline were awarded two
News & Documentary Emmy Award
The News & Documentary Emmy Awards, or News & Documentary Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sci ...
s, the
Robert F. Kennedy Center For Justice and Human Rights
Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights (formerly the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, or RFK Center) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit human rights advocacy organization. It was named after United States Senator Robert F. Kenned ...
award for their work documenting the support given by the Firestone Company to
Charles Taylor, Liberia's former president and a convicted war criminal, during that country's civil war. In 2016, Miller, along with
Ken Armstrong of
The Marshall Project
The Marshall Project is a nonprofit, online journalism organization focusing on issues related to criminal justice in the United States. It was founded by former hedge fund manager Neil Barsky with former ''New York Times'' executive editor Bi ...
, won the
Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Reporting for an article on the
Washington and Colorado serial rape cases.
In 2020, he and several other ''ProPublica'' reporters shared the
Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting
This Pulitzer Prize has been awarded since 1942 for a distinguished example of reporting on national affairs in the United States. In its first six years (1942–1947), it was called the Pulitzer Prize for Telegraphic Reporting – National.
Li ...
with members of ''
The Seattle Times
''The Seattle Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 and has been owned by the Blethen family since 1896. ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Washington ...
''. With
Megan Rose and
Robert Faturechi, Miller had received the award for their report on
United States Seventh Fleet
The Seventh Fleet is a numbered fleet of the United States Navy. It is headquartered at U.S. Fleet Activities Yokosuka, in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is part of the United States Pacific Fleet. At present, it is the largest of ...
accidents.
Selected works
* (with
Ken Armstrong)
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, T. Christian
Living people
Los Angeles Times people
American reporters and correspondents
1970 births
University of California, Berkeley alumni
American investigative journalists
Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism winners
Livingston Award winners for International Reporting
Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting winners
University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism faculty